Cartagena railway accident: Six people slightly injured after passenger train collides with crane
The accident caused a brief closure of the line while saftey checks were carried out, but authorities assure there is no further danger now
A passenger train operated by FEVE, Spain’s narrow-gauge railway network, collided with a crane this Thursday January 22 in the Cartagena district of Alumbres, leaving six people with minor injuries.
The incident prompted the deployment of emergency services, although authorities have confirmed that the train did not derail and remained on the track throughout.
According to sources at the Emergency Coordination Centre for the Region of Murcia, the collision occurred around midday in an area locally known as ‘Los Partidarios’. The Feve train left Cartagena at 11.40am and was scheduled to arrive in Los Nietos at 12.13pm.
Firefighters and medical personnel were quickly dispatched to the scene to attend to those injured. All six casualties were reported to have suffered only slight injuries and were treated on site.
The circumstances surrounding the collision are still unclear and an investigation is under way to determine how the train came into contact with the crane. At this stage, officials have not confirmed whether the crane was operating on or near the track at the time of the accident, or whether signalling or visibility issues may have played a role.
Despite the impact, railway sources confirmed that the train remained upright and on the rails, helping to prevent more serious consequences for passengers and crew. Rail traffic in the area was temporarily affected while emergency services carried out their work and safety checks were completed, but services had resumed by 1.10pm.
While any rail incident raises concerns, this collision is considered minor when compared with the serious train accidents that have occurred elsewhere in Spain in recent days, namely the fatal derailment and collision in Adamuz, Córdoba on Sunday January 18 that took 43 lives and the train accident that happened up in Barcelona when a wall collapsed on top of a Rodalies train, killing the driver.
Those tragedies have already led to nationwide debates about rail safety and the condition of infrastructure, and while the Cartagena accident is not comparable in terms of size and seriousness, it does add yet another question mark to the doubts raised over the country’s railway system.
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